Student Ava Twomey reveals on RTE how she battled obsession with bulimia and self-harm as a teenager

For 20-year-old Ava, purging after meals and cutting herself seemed a better alternative to opening up about her depression - and she said she became addicted to the release before things came to a head.

Nicola Bardon

13 Mar 2019, 20:03

FOR 20-year-old Ava Twomey, cutting herself seemed like an easier option than opening up about her depression.

The Clane, Co Kildare social care student battled with bulimia and self-harm, saying once she started, "I couldn’t stop."

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Ava Twomey speaks to Dr Sinead on Doctor In The House about her struggles with self harm and bulimia

And she admitted that she searched for trigger images on social media for inspiration.

She told the Irish Sun: “I used to be a really angry person, so when someone gets angry and hits a wall, once they do that they feel fine - that’s what cutting was like for me.

"I was addicted to it. It was part of my daily life.

"After I eat, I make myself sick, before I go to bed, hurt myself.

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At the height of her eating disorder, Ava looked up triggering imagery of extremely thin girls on social media

“When I think back, I was only 15, 16 and my sister Ella is 14 now and to think she could go through that in a year - that’s what age I was. That frightens me.

“I signed up to Tumblr, and you can look up anything. It would have a little warning saying, ‘this could trigger’ but I would look up skinny, bulimic, self-harm, depression, and there was these quotes that come up and I was addicted to them as well.

"Seeing pictures of girls with their ribs out, I loved it and now when I look back it’s sickening."

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From left to right, Ava, Ella, Pat, Paula and Regan Twomey, from Clane in Co Kildare

Ava went on her first diet at age 14 after dropping nearly four stone, she became obsessed with weighing herself.

But as she started to regain some of the weight, she started making herself sick to backtrack.

“Everyone has this stereotype about [bulimia] thinking it is just really skinny girls, but it’s not.

"I was a very heavy girl and I made myself sick with every meal to lose weight.

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Ava signed her family up for the show to get them back on track with healthy eating habits

“I turned to bulimia but it did the thing I didn’t want it to do, it actually made me put on weight.

"It had so many side effects, I lost my hair, I was 16 or 17 and I had to get two teeth removed, six fillings, I completely destroyed myself with it.”

When she finally began to overcome the eating disorder, she instead turned to regular self-harm.

It finally came to a head when she felt like she didn’t want “to do anything with my life” and she showed her mother her scars.

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Ava's sisters Ella and Regan on their phones. Regan struggles with self image as a result of comparing herself to unrealistic images of 'influencers' on social media

“At the time I regretted it, because after I ate they wouldn’t let me leave the room for about two or three hours.”

In a bid to get her and her family back on track, Ava signed them up to the show Doctor in the House.

The family were monitored for their bad eating habits and then put on a strict new regime, which included no phones in the bedroom and a diet and exercise plan.

Her 17-year-old sister Regan needed to take a break from her phone after telling the cameras: “I’m very unhappy. I know I don’t picture myself as nice looking anymore.

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Ava and her family were given a new regime by the doctors that included healthy eating and exercise

"I just think I’m too big.

"You just see all these influencers on Instagram and they’re promoting all these weight loss things and you’re like, they look so great, and I don’t look like that and then you eat food because you’re depressed and that’s not the way to solve it. But I do.”

The team, which includes DCU Professor Niall Moynagh, also sent Ava to a psychologist.

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Ava, pictured undergoing health tests, says she has a new lease of life since the doctors helped her and her family out

And she said she is already seeing improvements, and between signing up for Zumba classes and getting a dog, she has a new lease of life.

“Everything is going well, even family aspects - my relationship to my mam and dad and my sisters, it’s brilliant.”

For worried parents, she has a few tips: “I was brilliant at hiding at it, so my advice to parents would be to talk to your kids.

"The biggest thing I can say, don’t be obvious about it but check their arms.

"I always wore long sleeve tops, I covered my arms in make-up, I had every trick in the book. You don’t think of checking your child’s arms.

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